Well said! The more I thought I stuttered around someone, the more I did. The more I thought I'd stutter on certain words the more I did. All bs that I needed to wash out of my head. That's where the awareness comes in, the mindset that this ... it just didn't make sense and I knew I could overcome it! I went to speech therapy and read books and when looking back on it (though to be fair to them it was a good couple of decades ago in case anything has changed) they tried teaching like I was too intellectually lazy to understand the nuances and why something had the effect it did, or maybe they themselves didn't know and just threw what they could at it, all but the kitchen sink. When they taught me something like talking slowly, it felt like they didn't stop to think why, how, or any of it. I found on my own that a simple change in pace has the same effect. The change in attitude alone, feeling like you have all the time in the world, not even needing to actually talk slow, just knowing you can, was enough! I began to realize that I can go further than what they think they know. We know ourselves better than anyone. Trying to find an outwardly answer when there is no "known" cure tends to set us up for disappointment. We can find the answer from within. The awareness I developed, I didn't find anywhere else. But when I hear other stutters I remember being there. I feel it as if it was yesterday. Then when I hear them say we are all different and unique, it saddens me because it's like they give up for fear of disappointing themselves any further. We're far more similar than we are different. I can relate to everything I hear another stutterer go through. That was me and if I didn't know what I know now and be aware of what I'm aware of now that would still be me because I just wouldn't know there was anything else. Dealing with stuttering can be very un-intuitive because you feel you can push through but if you experience and try the opposite and stop yourself, as unintuitive as that sounds, it can change everything. And it saddens me when people think "oh that's just him, everyone is unique." I used to think the same thing, that my severity is what it is and others is what they are until I had enough and decided I have nothing to loose from trying to find a better way then. Low and behold, I found plenty. Acceptance was just the beginning. It gave me the courage to go out there, not avoid and not worry about what anyone else thinks but I focused on not worrying about what anyone else thinks not because I just wanted to accept it but because I knew that when I was at home and didn't worry, I never really felt I could stutter and if I did I felt it was nothing, easy to get over. I knew that when I avoided, I just empowered the fear of that word and as a friend recently told me, it just went into the junk drawer of new words to fear. It was all bs! We can get past it all!